Don’t Pick The Scab

You ever hear that from mom when you were a kid?

“Stop picking at it Dean, it will never get better!”

It’s not only that it’s kinda gross, but my mom cared that whatever cut, slice or scrape I happened to have at that moment got better.

So what does that have to do with training?

Well actually it has everything to do with the next recovery week we have coming up in a couple weeks, the week of August 26th.

As we have explained before (Minimum Effective Dose, Recovery Is Where The Magic Happen, I Hate Recovery Weeks) it is not the training that gets you better, it is training + recovery that causes us to lose fat, build muscle and look and feel better.

And that’s where the scab analogy comes in.

Recovery = Healing.

Just like you wouldn’t keep picking at a scab and expect quick healing, you can’t keep training a tired body and expect it to get better either.

You must let it heal.

There are a lot of things that help our body heal better from training.

• Post-training nutrition
• Good nutrition in general (lean protein, lot’s of veggies and fresh water, less sugar)
• Proper sleep (8 hours is a great target)
• Massage, ART, Chiro when necessary
• Other soft tissue work such as foam rolling and stretching
• And other methods such as icing, contrast showers, etc.

Evidence and experience tells us that complete recovery weeks are a huge part of recovery, healing, and just plain getting better!

In fact the hardest part of most recovery weeks is between your ears. You will not “de-train”, get fat, lose muscle and turn into a couch potato in a week, so just stop picking the scab!

Recovery Week Schedule and Upcoming Dates to Remember

Recovery Week:  August 26th – September 1st.

Labor Day, September 2nd:  Working for the Cure for Cystic Fibrosis Fundraiser at Get Fit NH Concord